TONY Newell heads back to Wigan this weekend looking to book his place at the UK Open.

The South Cumbrian darter, who last month regained his PDC Tour Card after coming through qualifying school, tailed off after a strong start at the first three qualifying events last week.

Newell won through to the last 64 on day one, earning his first prize money of the season, but suffered opening-match defeats on each of the next two days.

His day-one form will give Newell confidence, having beaten Paul Milford 6-5 in his first match-up, and then World Championships player Benito van de Pas 6-2 in the last 128.

His run was ended by Martin Lukeman at the next stage, narrowly missing out 6-5, as Michael van Gerwen went on to take the overall win for the first of two days in succession.

There was no luck for Newell after that, beaten 6-3 by Matt Padgett on day two in his first game, and going out 6-5 to Zoran Lerchbacher on day three, with the Austrian going all the way to the final, where he was beaten 6-0 by Michael Smith.

Newell is not setting himself specific targets for the season, although reaching the UK Open itself would be a good start, and the World Championships are still the dream.

Looking ahead, he said: “I just want to play with a smile on my face.

“I've always set myself targets. Last year, the target was to qualify for quite a few Europeans, and I was falling at the final hurdle, 6-5, 6-5, 6-5. That was a big thing, because the European events bring more prize money and more exposure. When that started to go down a bit, it affected me.

“I've thought about what my goals are this year, and I'm not going to set myself any. I'm just going to go, play with a smile on my face, and if I do that and enjoy myself, then I think I will achieve the things I want to achieve.

“The main dream is obviously still the Ally Pally – you want to be up there on that stage – and if I can just go out there, enjoy myself, and play like I can, then I think I can achieve that.

“As for smaller goals, I'm just going to take it one step at a time. The pressure is off this year, because there are no entry fees now, so you don't feel as though you're trying to scrape back what you have put in. That will help, because the more you put in and don't get out, the more you feel you've got to get further; you're always chasing.”

Three final days of qualifying for the UK Open start on Friday.